This large sector covers the clinical and health disciplines, social care, therapies and sport. Our main concentration of work is in health and social care, although the high proportion of the sport and active leisure employment based in the South East is leading SELLLN into an increasing involvement in the education and training needs presented by such a fast-growing industry.

The health sector already represents the largest employer in the UK, and this is set to grow by about 10% in the next year. London reports a high level of work vacancies and there is a need to ensure that existing staff become more qualified to fill the roles being defined in the sector, and to bring more new workers into the sector. Social care in particular is associated with unqualified, poorly paid work with few opportunities for career progression.

Joelle Maulguet is based at King’s College London and is the lead for the Health and Wellbeing sector.  

Joelle organises the Health and Wellbeing Sector Working Group. This group sets the overall strategy for SELLLN’s engagement with the sector.

As well as membership drawn from our partner colleges and universities, the group’s membership includes representatives from Skills for Health, the sector skills council for health professions, South London and Maudsley Mental Health Foundation Trust, Queen Elizabeth Hospital Trust, Bexley Care Trust, Skills for Care, the sector skills council for social care, NHS London and Wandsworth 14-19 Partnership.

SELLLN is already funding several initiatives in the Health and Wellbeing area. These include two projects funded by Skills for Health and NHS London: a project to develop clinical leadership skills amongst senior staff in an acute care setting, and a project to develop language, literacy and numeracy skills of health care assistants. In other projects, support is being given to provide a level 4 experience to Advanced 14-19 Society, Health and Development Diploma students, and a spa management Foundation Degree is being developed.

Progression agreements from Access to Social Work to BA (Hons) Social Work degrees in all our partner universities who offer them have been developed, as has a progression agreement to Biomedical Sciences.